Left Behind
by LordVoldemar
Summary: (Rewrite of "The Shattered Gems") Story of Lapis, Peridot and Galena, trying to figure out Earth.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello and welcome.**

 **After much of just sitting around and doing nothing I decided to rewrite my old fanfic (yes, this is indeed me, karl0336), whitout having gained any writing skills in the meantime. Yay for common sense. But hey, new season (of SU), new name (new username) and new me (actually I'm the same lazy brocastinating f ck I've always been).**

 **So enjoy. I guess.**

* * *

Left Behind Chapter 1

„… _wake up… "_

Galena awoke.

The first thing she saw in several millennia was the floor, approaching at a worryingly high speed.

She lifted her arms, unsure whether to embrace it or push it away and only succeeded in making the fall slightly more painful than it should have been. As she lay, she became more aware of her surroundings and as any sentient being that perceived the world around them, begun to ask herself questions in a vain hope that staring at a wall would somehow give her the answers. Her first thought was:

" _Why is the floor so bloody cold?"_ , followed quickly by

" _Why do gems even_ have _pain receptors?"_ and

" _Why am I awake?"_

Never really strong at neither the internal workings of floors and gem bodies, she concentrated her awakening mind at the final question.

Why was she awake?

She, like many others, had been detained here under accusations of being rebel elements. She, unlike many others however, had been innocent.

Well, maybe innocent was the wrong word.

Accused of wrong crimes would be more true. And even the crime part was rather sketchy, depending on where you looked from.

Anyways, she had fully cooperated with her captors, was perceived as a small threat and thus had been left alone for most part, in a galena-trance. One by one, other prisoners had disappeared, into the machines of the ancient factory, once made to supply the seeders, now rebuilt for processing the grim harvest of Earth.

Earth.

Memories came back to her, like water breaking through a dam.

Damn.

Homeworld could just replace the word "insane" with "Earth" and no one would question it. Not only because questioning orders was a sign of someone being Earth.

How beautiful it had been. Part of her wished for the dream back, before it had become a nightmare. The slender spires that reached the sky and the sun itself, islands that floated amongst the clouds as if belonging there, temples that seemed to have grown from the rock itself. Gems, friends, companions, all gone, either dead or on Homeworld.

Groaning, she sat up and looked around. She was apparently in the prisons control room. A bar of shining metal like substance gleamed on a table and she crawled to it. At her lightest touch it shifted, shimmered and begun to flow like water between her fingers and across her arm, finally forming a belt around her waist. Finally standing up, she saw a red button on a panel, indicating it was active. Voices could be heard, indicating it was the intercom of the facility. As she slammed the button down a holographic screen appeared in the air. A map was displayed, showing positions of cameras, speakers and other such equipment, mostly broken. One microphone near the entrance seemed active, and Galena hit the gem equivalent of a _replay_ button.

…..

 _Sometime earlier_

….

Peridot felt uncomfortable, slightly scared even. It was logical, as she was walking next to a gem who could manipulate oceans with the wave ( _heh, get it? Wave. Sometimes it amazed herself how funny she was_ ) of her hand. But even so far inland the silent blue gem could give her shivers.

They had just kind of stumbled on to each other. Peridot was searching for a safe place to hide and Lapis was doing… whatever she had been doing before. Peridot hadn't really pressed the matter. The one time she had mentioned Jasper, .

Anyway, Lapis had seemed like a convenient way to protect herself and Peridot had taken the blue gem's silence to the question "How about we stick together for a while?" as a yes. In fact, Lapis had said very little at all, other than "go away" and "leave me alone".

At least things were improving.

They had started speaking during their nightly camps (which Peridot had been against in the beginning, but quickly agreed when she saw the many eyes that watched them from the forest). Yesterday, Lapis had even smiled when Peridot told the story of how she had sneaked into Steven's home, stolen her foot back and had avoided capture after a massive showdown against the Crystal Gems, in which fusion of the enemy might have occurred. Or might not have. Lapis had found that part a little bit unbelievable, but had let it pass. Peridot had her foot.

But now night was over and Lapis had regained her cold stature.

They were headed for an old factory that the early colonists had used to produce things not present on the colony ships. Peridot didn't even know for certain what they were looking in there. Her logs had told her that working together could apparently improve relations and the better relations you had with someone, the more likely they were to give you information she wanted, mostly about what Lapis knew about the "Crystal Gems" and what she had been up to this entire time. She wasn't telling the whole truth (or any truth at all, for that matter). A secluded area such as this, underground and far away from large bodies of water seemed the safest place to start asking questions.

…

"We should be arriving to it… now."

Peridot looked up from her finger screen to see nothing but a large mound of rocks.

"It doesn't look like much." Lapis commented.

"That's because it's mostly underground. The minerals that were dug out were used to build the machinery and equipment. Hopefully there's something in there we can use."

Peridot gave Lapis a hopeful look, but the blue gem seemed more interested in staring at the clouds. Grumbling, she activated her tractor beam and started moving the boulders.

….

Lapis thought as Peridot worked. Thought about what had happened. To her. To Jasper.

To Malachite.

Jasper had won.

The thought echoed in her mind.

Jasper had taken control of the battleground that was their collective minds, standing victorious above Lapis, only to be forced back into a battle as Malachite emerged from the depths of the consciousness. A tornado of fury, edging on madness. Lapis had used the confusion to rip the fusion apart, to end the connection and escape.

The rest was hazy.

She had woken on a beach far away from where Malachite had been imprisoned, with her footprints leading to the ocean. She knew Jasper wasn't dead, but had an odd feeling of peace about it. She had done _something_ to her, but couldn't for the world remember what it was.

A rock falling down from the mound and rolling near her changed the strain of thought from Jasper to Peridot.

The green gem had come as a surprise, really. She had been certain Peridot would not last on Earth very long and had to admit that she had tried to scare the slightly arrogant and annoying gem away, but was now somewhat glad she wasn't alone.

Peridot threw a pebble at her to get her attention.

"Earth to Lapis. Wake up! The entrance is cleared. Are you coming now or will you catch up later?"

….

Galena could not believe it.

Homeworld authorities had left a prisoner outside of a cell with a possible weapon and set the trance-call to be "wake up"? That had to break dozens of protocols. It was probably a bigger crime than hers.

And now there were two gems outside the complex, a matter no less concerning.

Correction, the two gems were inside the complex, as the few scattered cameras could tell.

Nearly everything was offline in the center. Perhaps attributable to time, but she doubted time went around with a club and smashed panels with what looked like a battle axe. And lock doors behind her. Even more depressingly, the whole place seemed to be waking from some standby mode, while the few things that still worked here remained stubbornly dark.

She was sealed in with no way out, other than the intruders. Who were they? Friend or…

She paused.

 _Who_ would qualify as her friend at the moment? The Rebellion hadn't exactly shown much gratitude. And the only way Homeworld integrated prisoners back into the society was in fragments.

But then again, who would have to know who she was? As far as she could tell, all records in the place had been erased. Talking her way out seemed like viable option.

There's a first for everything. Maybe even treachery.

Galena watched the pair move through the rooms. The Lapis Lazuli and a… Peridot, apparently. They didn't make them like they used to anymore.

Whatever they wanted they had a clear sight, going immediately for the Supply Depot. Her eyes glued to the floating map, she tried to listen to the garbled audio.

…..

Peridot clicked a button and one of the walls of the crate melted away, spilling its contents on the floor. The whole place was pretty bare, anything useful had been stripped. And what had been left behind was slowly being dissolved and rusted by water which had found its way in through the rock and metal. The fact most things here had been made from terrestrial materials such as iron only quickened the process. Cursed oxygen. The planet seemed like some being intent on digesting everything, including itself.

"This place gives me the creeps. Are you sure nobody is here?"

Lapis had given her best at helping Peridot, which, in short, meant that she simply stood around and stared at everything. Some sudden noise made both of them freeze for a moment, until they were sure it was just some other piece of machinery stirring in the depths. Peridot felt a smirk elevation at having a light from her gem while Lapis was forced to stay in darkness.

"The facility was simply put in a standby, in case it was ever needed. It's just the restarting process."

That's it, everything was logical. Or was it? Places like this were generally lost, forgotten after warp was established on the planet. So, why was it left ready to activate itself again?

The depot was different from the other rooms. As it was deeper, the ceiling was much higher, covered by shadows. The place seemed more derelict, more empty than rest of the facility. Every sound, like water dropping from a beam or one of the rusted walkers attempting to move its legs was incredibly loud. Even Lapis's soft footsteps echoed, as she was wearing heavy boots. Peridot pulled one of the energy rods from the crate to examine it, causing others to roll out in a sudden clatter, making Lapis nearly jump.

Just as Peridot was about to apologize, another noise, this time a loud and sharp static rung out from one of the hallways. It only lasted a moment, but the echoes were more persistent and refused to die.

"What was that?" Lapis looked at the green gem, who had already gathered herself.

"Just one of the speakers. Must have short wired from water damage."

"You mean someone used it?"

Peridot was taken aback.

"Of course I wasn't suggesting something as stupid as that. No one is here."

"But why would the speakers turn themselves on for no reason?" Lapis kept asking.

"Well, why don't you go and find out?" Peridot snapped back, but seeing Lapis leaving the room made all of her irritation fade into the background. "Wait! I didn't mean it literally! Come back! Lapis!"

Peridot looked around the now empty room. She could be the wiser one and remain here to continue her task. But suddenly the idea of being alone in the dark seemed a bit less inviting, so she hurried after Lapis, cursing all the way.

….

"Ugh!"

Galena got up from under the console and looked at the map. The speakers had fried the moment she tried to use them, but it seemed to have been enough. The dots were moving in her direction now, inching forwards on the holographic projection. Her room was at the end of the hallway, the only one that was closed.

What if they were hostile? What if they would just smash her and she'd suffer the same fate as other Galenas?

 _No_ , now was not the time to have second thoughts.

What if they wouldn't open the door?

Should she try to message them? Knocking? Shouting? Or would that only scare them away? She rose up and started to pace around the room. What should she do?

" _That's odd."_

For a moment Galena thought she was hearing things, then realized that the intruders had reached her door. Frankly, she didn't know which was worse.

" _What are you waiting for, Peridot? Just open it."_

The audio systems on the outside still worked. Too bad the doors were soundproof, like all of them here. Otherwise the screaming would never have stopped here

" _The door controls have been tampered with. They are locked from the outside."_

" _So? What does that mean?"_

The other voice, apparently the green Peridot, gave an sigh.

" _Think a moment with your pretty blue head! Someone tried to make sure these doors stayed shut. And probably for some good reason."_

" _You're just scared."_

" _No, I am not! I'm just saying that maybe opening it would be a bad idea!"_

Galena listened to the two go on for a bit more and begun worrying slightly if they would ever reach a decision. Maybe they weren't so organized after all.

…..

"Fine! Why don't we just go around and poke under every rock we find!"

Peridot didn't know why she suddenly felt so fed up with Lapis, but the argument had begun to tire her. She slammed a command of her finger screen, nearly stabbing through it. Lapis had started to say something, but suddenly the words seemed to die in her mouth as she stared at something behind Peridot.

"What is it now?"

The green gem turned around and immediately recoiled, taking a big step back to Lapis.

In the doorway stood a gem.

She was gray, about the same size as Lapis, but with a bigger build. Her suit had a dark, matt tone with metallic stripes running across it. It was not a warrior's outfit, but rather that of a worker. Almost white straight hair hung loosely until her shoulders. Her eyes were steel-blue, but had a certain softness to them. Her ace was round, and her brows and small nose game it a slightly stern look

The gem's left hand was raised in an awkward wave, revealing the cubical gemstone embedded in the palm. It also revealed a thin black line running across it, an old symbol used to mark certain gems.

"Criminal" Peridot shouted and formed her arm cannon. The newcomer's belt shimmered and seemed to jump into her arms, forming a long, crude silvery blade. As seconds seemed to slow around her, Lapis jumped in between, blocking the view.

Everything stood still

"Let's try again, shall we? How about we all put our weapons down and talk?"

The green and the grey gem lowered their weapons, but hostility could still be felt in the air. Lapis tried to start with introductions

"My name is Lapis Lazuli, and she is Peridot. What's your name?"

"Galena."

"Lapis! She's marked." Peridot whispered. "She has committed crimes against the Diamonds…"

"The Diamonds aren't here, Peridot. Let's at least try to look friendly." Lapis whispered back.

A sudden startling beeping from the room caused them to jump and made Peridot and Galena to raise their weapons again. The grey gem glanced into the room, at a holographic display that had suddenly appeared in midair.

"Did you bring any friends?", she asked.

"What do you mean?"

Lapis pushed Peridot's aiming hand down and moved closer to observe a map that hung in the air.

"I mean that someone just warped in. The warp pad must have been unblocked and reactivated along with everything else."

"It's those Crystal Gems and their cursed tracking device."

Peridot cursed herself. How had she not checked is this place had warp pads or not?

"The who and their what?"

"The Crystal Gems," Lapis explained to Galena, "are the remnants of the Rebellion. The few that survived and have remained on Earth ever since,"

"And I take you are not on their side?"

"No."

Galena nodded, having expected the answer and pressed a few buttons on the panel. The Peridot had overridden the locks placed on the systems of the makeshift cell, allowing Galena to turn on more of the surveillance system, giving them a wider looks of the place..

" _Steven, keep moving. You can take pictures later. Steven!"_

"That's the Pearl." Lapis's voice turned ice cold as she stared at the map.

" _We are wasting time."_

"And the fusion, Garnet." Peridot added as the second voice finished. Galena felt a bit left out as the strange duo was concentrated on the map, until something in her mind rung a bell.

"You mean _the_ Garnet? The Lovers?"

"Yes." Lapis replied.

"And with Pearl, you mean _the_ Pearl? The Rogue?

"Yes."

Galena nodded.

"Anything else I should know?"

"The Steven is…"

"An abomination." Peridot stuck in.

"…the son of Rose Quartz." Lapis gave her a slightly annoyed look. "There's also a faulty Amethyst, but she's no one, really."

"Can we go back to the 'son of Rose Quartz' thing? You kind of lost me there." Galena felt more confused than before, but before Lapis could say anything, they were cut off by Peridot.

"We don't have the time for gossip, we need to figure out what we are going to do about _them_." She pointed to the four dots that had moved considerably on the map.

"What about others?" Galena asked. "You must have some reinforcements? Or did Homeworld send just you?"

"We're not really with them." Lapis glanced at Peridot. "It's been five thousand years. We'll can tell you everything later."

"Alright…" Galena still processed the information. _Five bloody thousand years?_ She felt off put, to say the least. What other great reveals were out there? Did the sun rise from the east?

"We could try fighting. There's only four of them."

"And die trying." Lapis still seemed oddly calm about the whole thing. "They don't care about anything but themselves. They are merciless monsters."

"They would probably just seal you up in a bubble somewhere and forget about you, especially with that mark of yours." Peridot supported her. "Not that it would be much of a downgrade from this." She did a waving motion towards the room.

"Of course, you are welcome to go and try. We're not going to stop you."

"Fine, it was a dumb idea. Do _you_ have a plan?"

They had one, and it was simple. They would set up something to attract the Crystal Gems, hide in the supply depot and wait for them to pass. After that, it would be a rush to the warp pad, hoping that they would make it there before the enemy figures it out.

…..

Peridot and Lapis were perched on one of the beams in the Depot, waiting for Galena to finish setting up the trap.

"Lapis, why are you being so… friendly to her?"

The blue gem shrugged. "I don't know. Because she was a prisoner? Because we might need help?" she snorted slightly. "Are you jealous?"

"I'm not joking. She is a traitor. How do you know we can trust her?"

"Peridot, why are you here with me? Is it because you care about me? Because you felt bad for me on the ship? Felt bad for keeping me prisoner? Were worried about me after I became Malachite?"

Peridot seemed slightly uncomfortable. "…Well,…"

"You did not. You just wanted to survive. You didn't have a choice. Neither does she. Or, as a matter of fact, us."

Peridot remained silent, falling into thought. Galena finally arrived in the depot and only realized to look up when Lapis called out her name. Her shining blade dissolved and fell to the ground in a puddle, where it formed a pair of large boots around her legs. She jumped, but didn't fall, being held aloft by air streams from the shoes. She floated up to them.

"Good spot, I didn't even realize you were up here."

Lapis pointed to her boots, which seemed to jump from her feet to form into a sword once more.

"What is that stuff?"

"Nano-metal. It was some side project for a robotics development program. It draws power from my gemstone" She waved the sword around and the metal twisted itself around her wrist, constantly changing shape. "Just a fancy tool. Not as strong as a summoned or forged weapon, but good enough. Just takes a lot of willpower…". Peridot shushed them silent and soon enough, they begun to hear footsteps.

…..

"Steven, put the camera away. It's not meant as a toy."

Steven held the polaroid, a gift from Connie, tightly in his arms and paid no mind to Pearl.

"It's meant to take pictures. And I promised Connie to take a photo of a gem monster."

"Well, there aren't any here. I'm afraid to disappoint you, but this place is empty."

"Steven, look here!"

Amethyst had run to one of the walkers and taken a heroic pose, one leg on it as if it was prey she had captured. Pearl only scoffed as Steven snapped the photo.

"Pearl, you took pictures of yourself as well."

"Only to replace the one that was melted by acid.

"And then a few dozen more. You have used more than Steven."

"No I haven't!"

Garnet suddenly rose her arm, signaling everyone to absolute silence. "Can you hear that?"

It was there. A faint voice, accompanied by static seemed to come from one of the hallways. They summoned their weapons.

"Let's go. Steven, you can breathe now."

Following Garnet, they headed for the hallway. Right in the doorstep however, Steven stopped and decided to take another photo of the large room. He aimed the camera high, wanting to capture one of the large cranes hanging from the ceiling.

He pressed the button.

The Polaroid sent out a flash.

And then he saw them.

….

The moment Steven aimed the camera up, Galena knew the plan had failed. They had to run.

She was the last to jump from the ledge, and hit the ground when Lapis and Peridot were already rushing out of the room. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the Crystal Gems returning with their weapons drawn.

She was only able to take a few steps, however, before something curled around her ankle and pulled he the ground. Instinctively she rolled to the left and was just in time, as a white spear dug into the ground where she had been. Some green bolts flew over her head, forcing the Crystal Gems to take cover. Water from a small puddle collected up and hit the Amethyst in the chest, freeing Galena from her whip.

"Lapis!"

Steven, not intimidated by the battle, raced forwards, trying to catch up with the fleeing gems. Peridot shot blindly while running, and while they flew too high to hit Steven, Garnet and Pearl were both forced to stop the chase for a moment, leaving Steven to run through the corridors and rooms alone.

"Lapis, stop!"

Lapis did stop, but only because she had reached her destination. She stepped on the warp pad.

"Lapis, don't go!"

"Bye, Steven."

A beam of light shot up, and when it disappeared, Steven was alone in the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello. Or sorry, rather.**

 **Sorry for the short chapter. And sorry for now going offline for about two weeks.**

 **Thats all.**

* * *

Left Behind

Chapter 2

A beam of light hit the warp pad, fading away to reveal three gems, one blue, one green and one gray. For a few moments they stood still, frozen in positions they had been in before warping. The beautiful vista that greeted them was much different from the damp, underground corridors. A path ahead led into a tunnel.

"The Sky Spire!"

Galena laughed and stepped off the pad. Everything was so much more colorful than she remembered. Her mind gasped at the view like a drowning organic lifeform would gasp for air. Even Earth could still be beautiful.

"You know this place?" Lapis asked.

"I helped to build it. Assigned as an assistant for one of the Topazes designing it." Galena started walking. "You want a tour?" She giggled, at started walking. She was acting dumb, but it didn't matter. She was free.

"Go ahead, we'll catch up in a moment." Lapis turned her attention to Peridot, who was busy staring at her, twitching and making odd facial expressions. "What is it?" The green gem let put a disappointed sigh.

"I'm signaling to tell you we should leave her here and keep moving."

"Why would we do that? She helped us."

"And she served her purpose. She is a traitor. A criminal. She's been _marked_. You can't trust someone like that."

Peridot's honesty surprised Lapis.

"And what about me? I wasn't sealed in my mirror for my own fun Am I untrustworthy?"

"No…I mean yes… I mean…" Peridot started to stutter as she realized the full extent of what she had said.

"Have you just been using me? And when my "purpose had been served", as you so well put it, you'll just abandon me?" Lapis had to force herself serious to not laugh at Peridot's confusion and helplessness. The green gem was so much like a computer. Excellent at what she had been made for, but one step off the programmed path and she just falls apart. Lapis snorted.

"Don't stretch yourself out now. Galena isn't a threat. We can stay with her for a while. I promise I won't tell her you're scared."

"I'm not!"

"Of course you aren't."

….

"So, what exactly is this place?"

"It was supposed to be the private residence and research facility for the Overseers of the Kindergarten. But they never really got to use it. Turns out data transmitted by dying researchers contains a lot unnecessary noise."

The winding path turned and twisted around the floating islands, across bridges and over stairs. A lot of stairs. The place had been built around view and looks, not functionality.

"Why would such an important installation be built here?" Peridot seemed unimpressed by the surroundings. "It's so isolated."

"Maybe it was a secret." Lapis guessed.

"Maybe the Overseer liked the irony of building her facility in place surrounded by nature and wild…"

Galena's sentence was cut short by a rustling in the shrubs. A quadruped creature jumped on the path, covered in fur, armed with horns. It's yellow alien eyes stared at them with its horizontal pupils.

"What. Is. That?" Peridot whispered without moving a single muscle.

"A goat." Galena continued as if nothing had happened. "They have always been here."

"And what exactly is a "goat"? Is it dangerous?"

"Not really. But I wouldn't recommend sticking your fingers near it. They'll try to eat anything they can get their hooves on. We lost one of our warp whistles that way."

Moving as quietly as seemed physically possible and using Lapis as a shield, Peridot managed to pass the danger and they could continue.

…..

Movement was slow, as the road was constantly cut by bridges and chasms, forcing them to take time and pass them one by one, skipping on the floating rocks. Lapis noticed that Peridot always placed herself between Lapis and Galena, as if to cover her from an attack, even as the road became a road again. The gray gem didn't seem to notice, or even care. But what were they going to do now?

"Lapis!"

"What?" Lapis awoke from thought as Peridot had apparently asked her something.

"I asked you if you didn't know about this place, how did you warp us here?"

"Saw it on a map, maybe. I know where warp pads are, I just haven't visited them before."

"Your loss."

They had reached the end of the road, with a chasm separating them from the tower. Water flowed down around them, pulled by invisible currents. They stared at the spire's top for a few moments.

"I'll race you."

"You're on."

With those words, Lapis and Galena took off, leaving Peridot standing at the bottom. She took a step back and jumped, her feet attaching themselves to the side of the tower.

She was a Peridot. She had standards. Her lips curled in despise as she watched the other two fly circles across the surface of the structure. Walking would be fine.

…..

As she reached the top balcony, other two had already begun exploring the place.

"Hey, third place is as good as any other!"

"I wasn't racing."

She walked to Lapis, who was examining something at the far end of the wall.

"Come look at this, there's like a little house here. Furniture and everything. You think the Overseer or whoever liked playing with dolls?"

"What the Overseer did in her free time is none of our concern, Lapis. We need to think what we are going to do now."

"How about we stay here?"

Peridot was slightly taken aback.

"Why? There is nothing here. Nothing we can use, the whole place is in the middle of nowhere…"

"Exactly. Who would come looking for us here? Of all the places on Earth? We are not going to wage war, Peridot. We're not going to fight them."

"So, you're just going to sit here? With that clod of a Galena?" She looked around. "Where even is she?"

"What, they censor swearing on Homeworld now?"

Galena emerged from the circular walkway that lead to the lower levels.

"They have always done that."

"And there's never been any rebellions either, right?"

She sat down on a piece of rubble.

"I would very much like to stay here. If you'll let me, of course."

"You don't get any say in this!"

Peridot's fingers started to move erratically, her voice nearing a scream.

"Why not?"

"Because…!"

She couldn't even finish before being interrupted by Galena.

"I know! We should hold a vote! All in favor for staying here say "aye". Aye!

"Aye!" Lapis agreed.

"This isn't a democracy!"

"I say it is."

Peridot stared at the blue gem in disbelief, losing every hope she had of winning this argument.

"Having an overwriting voice in a vote nullifies any meaning it has." She muttered.

"Peridot, I'm tired. I don't want to run anymore."

"… fine."

The green gem turned around and walkd away, down the stairs.

"Wait! Don't' go!" Lapis raced after her.

…

The setting sun found them all still there, in the same round room. Galena didn't know what Lapis had said to Peridot, but she seemed content and more composed now, using her fancy tech. The new gem puzzled her slightly, her need to rely on "enhancers" as she called them. Back in the day, raw gem power was all they had needed to get things done.

And had caused entire continents to shake when these gems clashed. Maybe making so powerful gems hadn't been such a good idea. The more she thought about it, the more she felt like she was on a completely alien world.

Not that it was that much different, mind you. Most animals and even plants were familiar (you'd think five thousand years would do something. Maybe natural evolution was a bit overrated). Humans were still around, doing things only conceivable to them.

But it wasn't the same Earth. This wasn't Gem Earth.

There was silence. Warp pads were inactive. Lapis had told her about "gem monsters", about that hybrid Steven, about relics of the pre-war age, now unchecked.

"Galena."

She grunted.

"Why were you prisoned?"

Lapis, her head leaned on her knees, looked at her. Peridot edged herself a little closer.

Galena snorted.

"It's not a very interesting story.", she warned.

They didn't heed the warning. Figures.

"I was part of a standard Galena squadron. Ten of us, shipped around the planet as workforce for projects."

Galena's had never been specialized workers. They were what was needed from them, needed for that particular moment. A new megastructure to be built, a spaceship to repair, a fire to put out. Whatever. They weren't personalized assistants, like Pearls. Just an identical mass of Gems.

"When the rebellion grew, more and more fighting broke out. And when the war finally started, it wasn't _us_ against _them_. We knew our enemy too well." she paused for a moment.

"About half of our squadron deflected. But when they attacked, we spared them. Order was all to send all prisoners for Harvesting. We hid them, hoping to bring them back when it was all over. It was the same thing on the Rebellion's side. Everyone had contacts on the other side.

And the whole thing ended just as well as you'd think. Accused of treachery. Accused of compassion."

"What did you do then?"

"Nothing. We did nothing. We just stood there. A silent protest!" She spat the last part out.

"And then…?"

"What do you think? It's apparently not very interesting to slaughter someone who doesn't fight back! They did try to spice things up with interrogations and torturing, but it didn't work. We didn't know anything. I was put into a trance."

With the story over, silence fell on the room again. They watched the moon rise from the horizon.

"I'm going to sleep."

Lapis got up and walked to the balcony.

"Why do you insist on doing that all the time? It's just wasting time." Lapis's curious hobby had always confused Peridot. It even seemed she had become addicted to it, complaining of feeling tired at evenings.

"Have you ever dreamed, Peridot?"

"No."

"Then you can't know." Lapis took off in the black night. Galena, who had been sitting on the edge of a large hole in the wall, laid down.

"You're not going to do it as well, are you?"

"No." Galena shook her head. "I've been sleeping for five millennia. If I close my eyes again, it will be too soon."

Peridot flicked a box in the finger screen in front of her, and cleared her throat.

"Log date 7 42 63 1 4 ….."

The green light from the windows shone until dawn.


End file.
